313/It's Just Ghosts

It's Just Ghosts
Date of Scene:	23 August 2023
Location:	Phone
Synopsis:	Usagi calls Darien immediately after Scene 300, A Ruinous Pair They Make, and he is at a haunted shrine so there's some disturbing background noise.
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Usagi Tsukino, Pyrite

---

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Our story so far:

Hematite got called to Nephrite's house to survey the damage and theft from Kiseru breaking in with a dark energy construct; Himeko was prime suspect, with Kyouka as a potential other suspect. Hematite texted Usagi after leaving the mansion. Then Hematite went to Himeko's shrine, and the events there led to Usagi and the Shitennou getting psychic backlash through their heretofore unknown bonds with Endymion. Now, Usagi's just woken up from a nightmare and Hema-- Dari-- Mamoru is still at the shrine with Himeko, doing initial recovery.

In his t-shirt and jeans, back still against the wall of the shrine, Mamoru answers his phone. "Hi," he says, voice a little bit thick, sounding incredibly tired. "What's up, are you okay?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Are you okay?" Usagi demands. Her voice is - not shaking, but there's something there, the lingering aftermath of backlash, of flashes she doesn't quite remember and didn't understand, but for the conviction that something was wrong.

Wrong with Darien.

"I - had a nightmare, I guess, but you were sad."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I'm overwhelmed is all," Darien says, his voice a little bit... small. "I'll be okay. What kind of nightmare? Himeko is here. We'll be okay."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"It was one of those nightmares you don't really.. remember after. But you were there - and you were sad, and there were parts where you weren't sad - it was almost like a memory."

And she pauses, and then, tentatively -

"Were you ever in the hospital when you were a kid?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
There's a distinct pause.

"Yeah," says Mamoru hesitantly. "For... a while. When I was six." A beat, and then a little more quickly, "I remembered a lot of the stuff I forgot."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I think we met," Usagi says, all in a rush, "I think I remembered that too, and it's kind of weird we both remembered things, isn't it?"

It's not like - it can't be connected. Can it? Is it? It could be. Magic is real.

She chooses her words carefully, or at least, tries. "Stuff from being Mamoru?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Yeah. I put some memories away for safekeeping, they didn't all get stolen," says Mamoru, slouching down a little bit and watching the dead courtyard of the shrine blankly. "We met in the ho--" he starts, and then his voice gets a little weirdly muffled because he's putting his hand up over his eyes, and his wrist's in front of the phone. "In the hospital. That was you? With the hair. A rose... that was you?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Well, I wasn't sure," Usagi huffs, but it's a humorous huff, an obvious relief, and, "Are there really that many girls with this hairstyle? I remembered. It was the day Shingo was born. My Papa brought me to the hospital from my grandparents' house, and I had flowers. But I wandered off, and I found you."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I'm glad," says Mamoru, and he sounds it. And he still sounds a little like he's close to breaking down. He ducks his head, and is silent for a moment, face screwed up tight and grimacing, trying to keep his voice under control. Once he thinks he's got it, he says, only wavering a little, "I still like roses. That was before I met Takashi. That's funny to think I met you before him."

Pyrite has posed:
    There's the sound of something dragging in the background coming over the phone to Usagi. Every few seconds, it drags and scrapes across a rough surface. Then it stops completely.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
A rose. She'd given him a rose.

And he'd given her one too. Hadn't he?

A black rose, with lush petals, offered in up to destroy a monster -

Friends that she won't like, friends that want to hurt people -

Hematite. Jadeite. Kunzite, a pointed question, Koji jabbing Elephant-san -

Usagi breathes out, slow and shaky. The noises of dragging and scraping in the background aren't helping.

"...is Himeko-chan okay?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Yyyes," says Mamoru after a brief silence, the word dragging a little at first, as if Mamoru were squinting and analyzing even as he answered. Then, "Yes. We both have a lot of, of psychic sorting-out to do. I think she's more stable than she was before." Before what? Darien has a strange little sister; Hematite has a strange little apprentice.

Pyrite has posed:
    "...okaa-san..." may be heard faintly in a male voice.
    Then the scraping again.
    Scraaaaape.
    Scraaaaape.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"...psychic?"

Okay so it was definitely Darien that caused this whole thing and - Himeko is a psychic? Himeko who likes ducks and hates cameras???

"...is something wrong? Over there?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Not really," says Darien kind of dubiously. He takes in a ragged little breath and then lets it out in a short sigh. "I mean, or everything I guess, it's a haunted shrine. But we're fine. And yeah, I'm psychic, sorry." A beat. "I can't read your mind or anything."

Silence, so brief. "Well, I guess I could with dark energy, but I wouldn't. Rude and unethical."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"A haunted shrine." A pause. "Himeko-chan lives in the dorms right? Himeko-chan doesn't live in the haunted shrine right? You're just. Um. Doing psychic stuff? In a haunted shrine?"

Himeko is such a nice girl???

"I'm glad you can't read my mind. I would - um. Not like that. But I was more - when you say overwhelmed do you mean psychically overwhelmed?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Himeko-chan lives in the dorms," Mamoru repeats, and he closes his eyes and lets his head thunk back against the outside wall of the shrine. "She really likes the shrine though. And I am... just overwhelmed. I am out of cope. I remembered the things I forgot, bunny-girl, and they are in large part not great things. I'm exhausted, and emotionally and physiologically and mentally and probably psychically overwhelmed. I'm hanging on to this conversation by the skin of my teeth because I like hearing your voice. I'm sorry."

Pyrite has posed:
    Scraaaape.
    Scraaaape.
    Thunk thunk thunk thunk...
    ....
    ....
    ....
    ...A LOUD, WET, HEAVY IMPACT.
    Like something organic just... Fell... Or jumped... From high up.
    "...okaa-san..." says a male voice after several seconds.
    ....
    ....
    ...Scraaaaape.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"No, you're okay," Usagi says quickly, "I don't - mind that. I just - um, some of that sounds bad, and if you're not feeling good maybe a haunted shrine isn't the best."

A LOUD, WET, HEAVY IMPACT.

"...do you two need a ride from the shrine?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Some of-- you can hear that?" Mamoru's voice gets wondering for a moment. "You can see ghosts too? No we're fine it really is just ghosts. I'll get us out of here once I can stand up. But we probably won't be around for a few days."

A beat. "You can't drive..."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Yes? I can hear that?" Pause. "I - ghosts? I don't know about ghosts. I don't know if I've ever met a ghost?"

Has she met a ghost? If she can see ghosts, would she know?

"My papa has a car. I could tell him my friends need a ride, and he'd give you one! Those don't sound like friendly ghosts." A pause. "That one ghost sounds very sad. Is his mother around?"

Pyrite has posed:
    "Oi," comes Himeko's voice in the background. "No one said you could be here. Go back."
    There's no more scraping or muttering or impacts after that.
    Well, guess that's a confirmation that Himeko see and talk to ghosts too. She definitely must be psychic like her brother then.
    Definitely.
    The creepy sounds are replaced with the sound of a mewling cat making the 'please give me attention' meow.
    "Yosh, yosh~..." Himeko says much closer by to Darien now. "Shiro says you're leaking, Onii-chan. We should probably go before I have to start getting rid of them."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"He's a ghost," Mamoru says, and then adds hesitantly, "so probably not? I mean, I don't really want to watch to find out." A tiny, one-steady-breath pause. "Thank you for the offer but I think we need to leave faster than your papa could get here. We'll be okay. Truly. Himeko is in better shape than me right now."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi pauses. "...alright. But let me know if you need anything, okay?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Okay. And I'll-- I'll text you when we're settled somewhere," Mamoru says, pushing himself away from the wall, then wearily getting himself up on his feet. Weary and sore. "Thanks for checking on me. Sorry about giving you a nightmare somehow from across the city."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I mean, it happens, right?" It really doesn't, usually, but, "I'd rather have the nightmare and know you needed me to talk to you. I can handle a few nightmares if it means you have someone to check on you."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"...... thanks," says Mamoru, small and wavery again. "I-- thanks."

He doesn't hang up. It's like holding hands.

It's just that they really do have to go. "Bye," he finally says, "Usako."

Then he hangs up.